Chapter Text
Jyn was the first thing Cassian saw when he woke up in the med bay on Yavin IV.
There was a flurry of activity around him. Machines beeping, medical staff barking orders about his condition, and medical droids floating around the room, but Cassian ignored all of them. His focus was solely on Jyn and her intense sea green eyes.
Eyes that he thought were the last ones he would ever see. Eyes that spoke volumes whenever he looked into them. Eyes that, for the briefest of moments, alone in a descending turbolift, screamed something unspoken. Something deep and longing that Cassian was too scared to name.
He wouldn't name it now either, but he could admit, just to himself at least, that he liked her eyes, and the comfort they brought.
Those first three weeks of recovery were mostly a blur.
He was sedated multiple times to go into the bacta tank, and he received reconstructive surgery for his back injury and the damaged nerves in his spine. When asked about it, the medics thought it was a miracle that he even made it back up the tower to help Jyn transmit the Death Star plans.
Cassian was determined to a fault, and the mission on Scarif was of great importance, but he might have been driven by other motivations that day.
He did not voice that opinion and simply said, "he had a mission that needed to succeed."
Just a mission.
During his extended stay in the clinic, Jyn visited him often. So much so that the medics started getting frustrated with her constantly ignoring the scheduled visiting hours.
Not that Cassian minded. In fact, he was amused by the death glares she gave the medics whenever they tried, and often failed, to usher her out of his room. Plus, it gave him a chance to check in on her injuries.
"I'm fine, really!" Jyn insisted, although Cassian knew better. She had a limp and often winced whenever she raised her arms. It took him mentioning her pain in front of the medics for her to finally admit she still had some soreness in her ribs and her sprained knee still needed healing.
It was soon confirmed that many of the survivors from the Scarif mission needed time to rest and heal.
Baze and Melshi had taken a couple of blaster shots each. Chirrut had a busted ankle, and Bodhi had some damage to his hearing after avoiding a grenade blast.
It was deemed necessary by Senator Mothma that the entire Rogue One team rest and recoup on Yavin until they were well enough to choose their next steps.
So, for now, Cassian, Jyn, Bodhi, Melshi, Chirrut, and Baze often found themselves congregating together, bonding, and sharing in their relief of not only surviving, but also succeeding in their near suicidal mission.
And today was no different. Cassian was slowly going through his physical therapy exercises alongside Jyn in one of the unoccupied training rooms on Yavin. Working through their mandatory therapy appointments together was an unspoken agreement the two had come to, and it was one of the few instances where it was just the two of them.
"I really hate this." Jyn breathed as she lay on her back, slowly stretching her bad knee in the air.
Cassian watched her intently as he too was lying on a mat on the floor, his body contorted in a way to properly stretch his spine, but his face was locked on Jyn's.
"Tell me about it, but soon we'll be fit enough to start working again."
"We will?"
Cassian could see a shadow pass over her face with the question, and a small flicker of dread settled in his stomach.
"That is, if you choose to stay with The Alliance." He whispered.
This was a touchy subject to broach. So much so that Cassian avoided bringing it up for a while. He knew the life she led before they freed her from that Imperial Prison camp. He knew how she had felt about this war. He knew of her abandonment issues, though that was something she always tried to downplay. Jyn was just so used to being on her own and surviving for as long as she could. Their mission to Scarif was one of the first times she felt a part of a team again. A part of life. Now that it was over, though, Cassian wasn't sure if she was going to stay.
And that terrified him.
He wanted her to stay. He wanted her to be a part of this rebellion and a part of a team. His team. Or even just creating forged scan documents. Something that would keep her safe and close.
"Do you want to stay?" Cassian asked tentatively.
Jyn sighed, lowering her leg and turning on her side to stare at him. Her bright green eyes were once again disarming, and Cassian felt his heart stutter.
"I... I think so. I'm just not exactly sure where I would...fit in."
That was the lingering question.
When Cassian and Jyn had been discharged from the med bay, General Draven could hardly wait to drag her into the war room and interrogate her on the unsanctioned mission to Scarif. Jyn took it all in stride, only losing her temper once when she threw the death of her father at Draven's feet as he called her behavior reckless. It took everything within Cassian to not intervene on her behalf, but he held back. Jyn was more than capable of handling herself. But that was something that could possibly be a problem.
She wasn't used to following orders or operating in a military environment. Saw Gerrara had essentially turned her into a terrorist at a young age, and then, having spent so much time on her own, left her as little more than an explosive wild card. But it also made her incredibly competent, versatile, and useful. Her skills could be easily honed and put to great use within The Alliance.
Just like me. Cassian passively thought. Seeing the same rage and efficiency Jyn possessed in his mirror image.
"What if we made you a place?" Cassian offered.
"What do you mean?"
Cassian sat up on his elbows. His rehab stretches for his back are momentarily forgotten.
"I've been thinking about something ever since we all got put on medical leave. We work well together."
Jyn nodded, "indeed we do, at least so far." She teased.
Cassian smirked. A real smile tugging at his lips. That was certainly new, and something he seemed only to be doing around Jyn.
But he refused to look into that right now.
"I think we should form our own team. Draven can send us all on missions if he chooses, but I think the majority of us, you, me, Bodhi, Melshi, Baze, and Chirrut, could all work together."
"And K-2?" Her tone was light and playful when mentioning his newly revived droid that they were able to program with the original K-2SO's backup data program.
"He would come too. Stars know how much he would complain if he were left out."
"True."
Cassian paused, looking to see if she would argue or bring up reasons why they shouldn't, but he was met with no resistance.
"I can talk to Draven and run it by him. See if he would sign off on it? If you choose to stay."
He watched her chew her bottom lip, a thought, maybe a question, brewing in her mind.
"You want me to stay?"
Cassian blinked, only hesitating due to the uncertainty in her voice.
In a second, he was sitting all the way up and moved to grab Jyn's hand.
A repeat of the gesture he showed to her as they awaited their fate on the beach.
"I want you to do whatever will make you happy, and if you choose to stay here with us, I would be honored to fight with you."
He watched her green eyes shimmer with moisture. Jyn was strong enough not to cry here in the training room, but Cassian could see his words moved her. He hoped that it would be enough to convince her to stay on Yavin with the rest of their friends.
And with him.
Though he did not say that out loud.
"I suppose this means I'll have to start calling you Captain and sir"
Another smirk twitched at his lips, and it took everything inside him to completely ignore the twitch between his legs simply from her words.
This certainly wasn't going to be a good idea, but if anyone were to ask Cassian if he cared, one look into Jyn's bright eyes would have him giving an absolute and resounding no.
"Please, I know you have no respect for authority. Just try not to get yourself killed, and I can forgive the lack of military conduct."
"Deal."
He felt her squeeze his hand as she agreed, and he knew that they had been holding on for far too long.
Not wanting to make her uncomfortable, Cassian removed his hand from hers, immediately missing her warmth.
Jyn rolled her neck awkwardly as she leaned back down against the mat, raising her leg up to stretch her bad knee.
As Cassian watched her intently, he could not stop the invading thought of a closed office meeting he had with General Draven a mere week ago.
"If Jyn Erso is accepted into our ranks, I hope I do not need to remind you of the rules against fraternization."
Cassian had remained stoic and unmoved by the General's warning, but inside he knew he might be playing with fire.
The rules were more or less guidelines to prevent too many unnecessary issues, but at the end of the day, should anything more than a friendship blossom between him and Jyn, Cassian wouldn't let a little rule get in his way.
After all, it's not like he didn't do his fair share of disobeying authority either.
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